BP continues blame game in oil spill investigation report

In an internal investigation report released early Wednesday, BP Plc deflected blame for the Deepwater Horizon rig explosion and subsequent massive oil spill, saying that “a sequence of failures involving a number of different parties,” including BP, Transocean Ltd. and Halliburton Co., led to the incident.

The explosion killed 11 rig workers and the spill in the Gulf of Mexico was ultimately the largest in U.S. history.

But more than four months later, BP (NYSE: BP) continues not to accept full responsibility for what it describes as the Macondo well tragedy.

The report concludes that decisions made by “multiple companies and work teams” contributed to the accident which it says arose from “a complex and interlinked series of mechanical failures, human judgments, engineering design, operational implementation and team interfaces.”

Mark Bly, BP’s head of safety and operations, led the investigation which the British oil giant says was conducted independently by a team of more than 50 technical and other specialists that work in and out of the company.

In a prepared statement, BP’s outgoing chief, Tony Hayward, said the report is evidence that “a series of complex events” led to the disaster.

“Multiple parties, including BP, Halliburton and Transocean, were involved,” he said “To put it simply, there was a bad cement job and a failure of the shoe track barrier at the bottom of the well, which let hydrocarbons from the reservoir into the production casing. The negative pressure test was accepted when it should not have been, there were failures in well control procedures and in the blow-out preventer; and the rig’s fire and gas system did not prevent ignition.”

Since the explosion occurred, all companies involved have been pointing fingers at who was actually responsible for the incident. All companies too have seen a significant drop in their stock price since the accident.

Over the weekend, BP lifted the failed Deepwater Horizon blowout preventer to the surface and handed it over to the U.S. Department of Justice as evidence in its ongoing investigation into the incident. A new BOP was put into place.

As of Sept. 3, the company said it has spent more than $8 billion on the cost of the spill response, containment, relief well drilling, static kill and cementing, grants to the Gulf states, claims paid and federal costs.

University System of Georgia Chancellor Erroll B. Davis Jr. served as a director of BP for a dozen years, and retired from the company’s board April 15 — only five days before the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig exploded. As the university system is facing enormous financial challenges, slashing its budget and raising student fees, Davis is now being entangled in BP litigation following the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico